Patient
zero, who first brought the MERS virus to Korea, was admitted to a hospital for
pneumonia and then moved to a larger hospital for further examination over a
month ago. At that larger hospital, it took a lot of time to go through various
tests to find what was going on as the patient was not honest about his travel
history. It took days to identify he was infected with the MERS virus.

After
the results were known, patient zero was silently quarantined and the wheels
behind the scenes started to buckle. No one in the government actually had a
practical plan in place for this kind of situation. On the floor, medical investigators
stumbled through the process of tracking patient zero’ whereabouts during the
prior two weeks. The healthcare providers at the related hospitals did nothing
since they either had no idea something was up or they did not think of
actually reacting in the proper medical way as they had no prior instructions
and no one ordered them to do anything.

On the
top, the head of the Korean CDC wondered between different government buildings
to give briefings in person about the few things he actually knew about the
situation. What made matters worse was that these building were located in different
cities. Ultimately, the blame for the MERS outbreak getting out of hand should
be put on the government’s lack of preparations.

The Jeju Island in MERS Panic

As the
fact, that an infectee traveled around Jeju Island prior to getting tested and
being confirmed of having MERS, was revealed, the officials of Jeju Island have
been busy trying to catch up and track the infectee’s whereabouts from more than
2 weeks ago. This means shutting down the hotel the infectee stayed in for the time
being and quarantining many many other people.

This
delay was caused by the infectee reporting the details about his travels a few
days after he got his test results. This infectee has been aggressively resisting
quarantine and put several other people at risk while doing so.

An elderly couple dies of MERS

Recently
the wife of a MERS fatality passed away at the age of 83. Her husband had
gotten infected when he was admitted to a hospital for pneumonia. He, at the
age of 82 died early this month. The wife was infected while taking care of him
at the hospital. This is the first case where a couple both died of MERS
complications. The family members say that
the government should pay to compensate for their losses.

Politcal News

The ruling party steps one step away
from the “congressional reform” bill

Currently,
a controversial bill which tries to give the Korean congress more powers over the
executive branch is on the floor. It is taking a lot of heat since there is definitely
a strong possibility that the bill is unconstitutional. Many see this as an
attack against the concept of “separation of the three powers” and a part of
the congressional agenda to grab more power for themselves. Whether this view is
true depends on one’s point of view but interesting enough this bill actual
came on to the floor with support from both the ruling and opposition parties
of congress.

It
should not be a surprise that the president of Korea came out saying she will
veto the bill if it ends up on her desk. Public opinion is not so warm to the bill also.
Recently, the head of the ruling party tried to separate his party from the
bill. He voiced his concerns about fighting a “veto” battle with the president
who is in his party after all. Also, he said that he thought the bill was constitutionally
solid before and now he is not sure. His fellow party members have displayed
similar concerns and are trying to distance themselves from what is becoming
rotten potato of a bill.

The Korean congress finally ratifies
a new prime minister

The
position of Korean prime minister has been empty since late April because congress
has been dragging their feet in the matter. They had already rejected one candidate.
However, the position is now filled as a
new candidate was ratified with 156 votes for and 120 votes against.

Interesting / Fluffy News

Korean parents Big Brothering their
kids cell phones

Last April,
a new law in Korea went into effect stating that all cell phones sold to underage
kids (anyone under 18?) have to mandatorily install a protection software. This
software constantly reports all activities and locations on their kid’s phones
directly to their parent’s phones. This means that hovering helicopter moms are
now NSA satellite moms. The software also blocks access to many internet sites
and applications. The Korea electronics industry estimates the current 10%
increase in tablet pc sales can be contributed to this new law as these tablets
are not regulated by this new law.

Korean Movies are having a bad year

For
the first half of this year, Korean movies only took in 50% of the Korean domestic
market. There were only 4 movies that more than 2 million people saw. This is
in contrast to the last 4 years when the Korean movies’ market share was over
50%.

Economic News

MERS causes consumer spending to freeze

The
impact of MERS on the Korean domestic economy is estimated to be much higher
than the impact of the Sewol ferry incident. The number of visitors at
amusement parks, department stores, and theaters has shrunk by to about 50%~80%
of the numbers prior to the outbreak. Even spending on basic stables has
reduced by 8% or so.

The
effect of MERS is not limited to domestic consumers. According to government’s
numbers, about 110,000 foreign visitors canceled their trips to Korea reducing
the revenue of tax free shops in Korea by 20~30%. Because of MERS and other
factors, some estimate that Korean will not be able to achieve the 3% GDP
growth predicted at the beginning of this year.

Korea gains a breather as the U.S.
freezes interest rates

As
U.S. intentions to extend its zero interest policy for another year leaks out, Korea
finds itself with some breathing room as it can ignore the threat of the
foreign money exodus for another year.

Korea is opening its financial markets
to online only banks

The Korean
government has forbid non-conventional banks from operating in Korea. It seems
that this may change as a new bill to legalize online only banks is going in
front of congress. This is being pushed by the government who is planning to
start up these online only banks next year. However, things may not go without
a hitch as the bill includes items to allow corporations excluding Korean conglomerates
to own up to 50% of an online bank. Currently this figure is set to 4%. In preparations
of the bill garnering resistances, the government is thinking to start out with
establishing 2 online banks under the current law and expand the number of
banks when the bill passes.